Commentary for Eruvin 10:12

מחזירין ציר התחתון – of the door for all the time that the upper hinge/pivot had not gone out, it is easy to restore it, and there is no “building” involved.

Introduction This mishnah discusses a hinge that has fallen off a door and whether or not one may reinsert it on Shabbat. The language and structure of this mishnah closely follows yesterday’s mishnah.

אבל לא במדינה – a decree lest he fasten it which is work.

A lower hinge [of a door] may be reinserted in the Temple but not in the country. The upper one is forbidden in both. According to the first opinion, it is forbidden to reinsert the lower hinge in the country [anywhere outside the Temple], lest while doing so he puts in a nail and strikes it, which would be an act forbidden according to the Torah. In the Temple this is permitted since in the Temple certain rabbinic prohibitions do not apply. As we shall see, outside of the Temple it is all the more so forbidden to reinsert the upper hinge. It is forbidden to reinsert the upper hinge in all regions even in the Temple. The upper hinge is more essential towards holding the door in its place and without it, the entire door would fall. The prohibition is still only of rabbinic origin, lest he come to strike a nail, but since it is more likely that he might violate a toraitic prohibition, the act is prohibited in the Temple as well.

העליון כאן וכאן אסור – for since the top [hinge] came out, all of it falls and it would be to him like “building.”

Rabbi Judah says: the upper one may be re-inserted in the Temple and the lower one in the country. Rabbi Judah is again more lenient, as he was in yesterday’s mishnah,. In the Temple, reinserting the upper hinge is permitted, and all the more so reinserting the lower one is permitted. According to Rabbi Judah, we need not be strict inside the Temple for fear that someone will violate a toraitic law, since those observing in the Temple will ensure that this does not happen. Outside of the Temple reinserting the upper hinge is still prohibited lest he come to strike a nail, but reinserting the lower one is permitted, and we are not concerned that by permitting this he might come to violate the toraitic prohibition of striking a nail.

רבי יהודה אומר כו' – there is no building with utensils and there isn’t anything other than [the issue of] doing something forbidden by the Rabbis as being out of harmony with the celebration of the day. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.